OutRun

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Description

OutRun is a racing game that allows the player to race across varied terrain in a readily available Ferrari, complete with a female passenger, over a series of short tracks.

Gameplay is viewed from just above and behind the car. The roads are full of sharp bends and hazards, contact with which can cause the car to roll and lose the player's time. On each section of track there is a fork in the road, allowing the player to choose which direction he or she wishes to go in. The player has to to complete five track sections in total, out of the fifteen in the game.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "Sega Ages: OutRun" -- Saturn / Nintendo Switch title
• "SEGA AGES アウトラン" -- Japanese Nintendo Switch spelling
• "Out Run" -- Common title
• "3D Out Run" -- Nintendo 3DS title
• "アウトラン" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• OutRun series
• Physical Bonus Content: Soundtrack

User Reviews

A Catastrophe	Atari ST	Stephen N (12)
In my book, it's among the top 5 racing games.	SEGA Master System	J. David Taylor (28)
A faithful conversion of the popular arcade racing game.	DOS	Trixter (9115)
I'd steer clear of this version if I were you	Amiga	Katakis | カタキス (42164)
Better than the Arcade Coin Op!!!	SEGA Master System	Kevin Huang (9)
Help! I'm in racing game hell.	Amstrad CPC	Neville (3390)
All the criticisms you've heard are true	Atari ST	Martin Smith (76277)
Another opportunity missed	DOS	Stephen N (12)
Yet another game that was rushed out in time for christmas	Amstrad CPC	makky (11)

Critic Reviews

Retro Gamer	Nintendo 3DS	Apr 23, 2015	92 out of 100	92
Commodore User	Arcade	Mar, 1987	9 out of 10	90
Génération 4	TurboGrafx-16	Feb, 1991	88 out of 100	88
FNintendo	Nintendo 3DS	Apr 12, 2015	8 out of 10	80
Video Chums	Nintendo Switch	Jan 10, 2019	7.5 out of 10	75
Retrogaming History	SEGA Master System	Jan 22, 2008	7 out of 10	70
Retrogaming.it	SEGA Master System	Jan 22, 2008	7 out of 10	70
Sega Power	SEGA Master System	Dec, 1993		60
The Video Game Critic	SEGA Master System	Dec 14, 2000	C+	58
Retro Archives	ZX Spectrum	Jun 06, 2020	7.5 out of 20	38

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Outrun on Amstrad GX4000	1	Robert Francis Jul 17, 2011

Trivia

Car

The classic red racer you use in the game is quite obviously a convertible Ferrari Testarossa (right down to the "Cavallino Rampante" logo featured in the back of the car), however SEGA had not licensed the likeness of Ferrari products and got into a series of legal issues with Ferrari. The eventually settled but it wouldn't be until OutRun 2 that the car would become an "official" Ferrari.

Copyright infringement

There was a patent case over the DOS port by Unlimited Software, the porting division of Distinctive Software. Accolade, for whom Distinctive had written The Duel: Test Drive II sought a preliminary injunction against Distinctive Software. It did not deal with the general look of the game, but rather the underlying source code.

Distinctive used some of the underlying "computer code" from The Duel for the OutRun DOS port, which Accolade challenged as an infringement of their copyright. Distinctive argued that these were standard libraries and routines, re-used in different games only for the sake of not having to reprogram them. Also, they claimed Accolade never contemplated the transfer of copyright in the library codes and, even if it did, the codes were not subject to copyright protection in the first place.

Ultimately, Accolade lost the case because the licensing agreement only referred to the concept and design of the game, but not the underlying codes.

The full case can be read through a link in the related links section.

Extras

A special edition of Outrun on cassette for Commodore 64 was bundled with a cassette containing the music from the original arcade game. The intention being to be listened to while playing the game!

Game Art Beyond

In 2018, Out Run was selected as one of the biggest classics on the Commodore 64 by the creators of the C64 graphics collection Game Art Beyond. Out Run was honoured with a high resolution title picture (based on the Amiga title screen artwork) in a special C64 graphics format called NUFLI, along with a new C64 SID interpretation of the famous Splash Wave theme. After listening to it completely, a short version of Passing Breeze can also be heard - this tune was missing in the original C64 conversion.

Tandy

The PC version has undocumented support for the Tandy TL/RL/SL series; there are a few digitized sound samples that can be heard if the joystick is not chosen to play the game (since the TL/RL/SL couldn't play digitized sound and access the joystick at the same time, due to a rediculous design flaw).

MSX versions

Two versions of the game exist for MSX computers. The first one is for MSX1 computers, was developed by US Gold and is nearly identical to the other 8 bit versions of the game. It was likely released in both tape and disk formats. The second one was developed by Pony Canyon for MSX2 computers and had improved graphics and speed. It was likely released in Japan and in cartridge format only, although pirated disk versions do exist.

Technology

Second game Sega made in the 80's that used "Super Scaler" technology.

Differences between The Japanese and Over Seas versions

There are some differences between The Japanese and Over Seas versions of the game in terms of arrangement of courses. The famous Rock Tunnel stage is an entirely different in the Over Seas version as well as it appears much sooner in the game. Only Mega Drive edition of "Outrun" includes both options to play different versions.

Commodore 64 version

In C64 version "Passing Breeze" tune is replaced with "Radio Off" option.

Awards

• Retro Gamer
  • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #44 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Garcia, Robbb, Sciere and Zovni

Related Web Sites

• Patent Case: Accolade v. Distinctive (A description of the patent case between Accolade and Distinctive over the DOS port)
• The Sega Out Run FAQ (Lots of information can be found in this guide by Chris White.)